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Linguistics, an empirical discipline

Linguistics, an empirical discipline . Prof. Sharon Hargus LING 200 Spring 2006. Announcements. When you e-mail me, cc your TA. Homework #1 due Thursday April 6 at the beginning of section. Assignment will be posted on class web site immediately after lecture. Synopsis:

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Linguistics, an empirical discipline

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  1. Linguistics, an empirical discipline Prof. Sharon Hargus LING 200 Spring 2006

  2. Announcements • When you e-mail me, cc your TA. • Homework #1 due Thursday April 6 at the beginning of section. Assignment will be posted on class web site immediately after lecture. Synopsis: • Download a sound file and transcribe (sample provided for you). • Answer some questions about your transcription.

  3. Overview • Sources of data in linguistics • Fieldwork • Fieldwork and endangered languages

  4. Sources of data in linguistics

  5. Some goals of linguistics • Description of particular languages • Search for language universals • Theoretical linguistics • Development of a universal framework for the description of language • Not mutually exclusive goals

  6. How linguists work • Assemble data • Qualitative/interpretive approach • inspect data • possibly with computational tools • develop an analysis • Experimental approach • formulate research questions and hypotheses • measure something (collect numerical data) • run descriptive and inferential statistics

  7. Sources of data in linguistics • Previously collected data • New data • Own intuitions • Data from others

  8. Previously collected data • Philology, “the study of written records” • e.g. data in library books • Latin • Yawelmani: as described by Newman • Klamath: as described by Barker • as analytical tools improve, revisiting previous interpretations can be fruitful

  9. Previously collected data • Corpus studies • Examples of linguistic corpora • database • text or text collection • e.g. CALLFRIEND corpora (collected for lg identification technology research) • Many possible uses beyond original purpose

  10. Intuitions • Is this a possible sentence/word? • Where are you? • *Where you are? (well-formed in Fort Ware, B.C.) • *You are where? (except as: you are where?!!) • (Computer Mices at MSN ShoppingFind deals on a wide selection of computer mices - compare prices.shopping.msn.com ): one mouse, two _________ • a stick of butter (or cube)

  11. Data from others • controlled experiment • observation • elicitation • observation and elicitation sometimes known as “fieldwork” • sociolinguistics • language documentation/description

  12. Description of particular languages • Ideally, by native speakers trained as linguists • Eliza Jones, second author of the Koyukon Dictionary

  13. Description of particular languages • Less ideally, by (non-native speaker) linguists • e.g. Jules Jetté, first author of the Koyukon Dictionary • Not all native speakers are interested in lg documentation • 70- and 80-something native speakers may not have the time and energy • Not all native speakers have suitable skills for lg documentation

  14. Descriptive linguistics • Sometimes known as primary linguistics • Linguistics originally a branch of anthropology • Pioneering work of Boas • descriptive studies of W. Greenlandic Eskimo, Kwakiutl • race  culture  language Franz Boas, 1858-1942, anthropologist

  15. Boasian research program • Goals for description of a language • Texts • Grammar • Dictionary • Texts: examples of the language as actually used • Audio and/or video recordings, transcribed and translated • Grammar: linguists’ deductions about the rule system • Dictionary: provides depth for the description; including source data for rule system

  16. Summary: sources of data in linguistics

  17. Fieldwork

  18. Typical linguistic fieldwork methodology (grammar) observation formation of questions, hypotheses hypothesis testing (elicitation)

  19. Observation • Inspection of texts • Translation • Eavesdropping (after language learning) • Examination of closely related languages • Most languages are not isolates

  20. Hypothesis testing • Question and answer • Typical fieldwork questions • If you can say X, can you also say Y? • Is there a word/sentence like Y? • Deliberate mispronunciation sometimes useful • Danger of leading the witness • Which do you prefer, X or Y? • What is the meaning of X? • X vs. Y: meaning dif.?

  21. Interpreting answers • “No, I would never say that.” • Why not? Some possible reasons: • What you just said is ill-formed/ungrammatical. • If a sentence, which of many factors is responsible? • One word is ill-formed? • Something mispronounced? • There is no conceivable context in which I would ever say that. • Can grammaticality judgements always be trusted?

  22. Other difficulties with fieldwork • Language documentation is a long, slow process • languages are very tricky • R.M.W. Dixon (Australianist) • a responsible linguist should not publish on a language for which there is no reference grammar • Intellectual property rights issues • Gaining acceptance by community

  23. An example of fieldwork (ethnomusicology) • A clip from Songcatcher • Ethnomusicologist Dr. Lily Penleric in rural North Carolina in 1907 • (similar to linguist recording texts)

  24. Fieldwork and endangered languages

  25. Some linguistic fieldworkers • Krauss: Irish Gaelic, languages of Alaska • Ladefoged: (everywhere) • Dorian: Scottish Gaelic • Your professor: Tsek’ene, Witsuwit’en, Deg Xinag, Sahaptin

  26. Tsek’ene (Sekani) language area

  27. Tsek’ene • A moribund language. About 20 native speakers remaining. • 3 communities: McLeod Lake, Tsay Keh, Fort Ware • Belongs to Athabaskan family of languages • Research goals: grammar, dictionary, texts

  28. Working with Mike Abou in Ft. Ware July 2005

  29. Working with Mary Charlie in Ft. Ware Dec 2002

  30. Text excerpt (Mike Abou) Kusk’eh zoh khutawnuyehii. It’s just how we were raised. Uwute’e khutawoonehyheh. They raised us well. Ii èh usk’ookàn yiihdze khuch’ò didùsdetl. Then the white people started getting in our way around here. Kooye la udoo wukaynuszude. I didn’t like that when [it happened]. Uyii mun cho ìdàde mudaghdniih’ùlh, uyii joo udoo kaynuszu. I also don’t like that big lake they dammed up just down there.

  31. P+ta#w+n+h+yhov. (n) raise pl. P. momsits’òòdawa tawnìniihyho I raised my kids Tsà’ lhutawiihyhodepn. Beaver Path, Beaver Pass. (lit. where beavers raised each other) (trail to Fox R. at 27-mile on the Aatse Davie trail) Sample dictionary entry:Tsek’ene-English

  32. Sample dictionary entries:English-Tsek’ene rainbow: nàhtunii tl’oolh (<tl’oolh). Rainbow L.: Duk’àyii munè’ (<k’àyii), Mun zoza (<zoza). Rainbow R. Rainbow R., Caribou Mt. Cr.: Wudze tl’ow ts’el荒 (<dze). rainbow trout: duk’àyii (<k’àyii). raise raise pl. P: P+ta#w+n+h+yho (<yheh, yho). rake broom, rake: mu’èh nawts’udzowii (<zow2). raspberry: dahkàdlè’ (<kàtl). rat pack rat: dlecho (<dle). rather rather, almost: k’ula (<k’ula). Rats L.: Tehk’a k’ùsgè’ (<k’ìs, k’ùs).

  33. Why is Tsek’ene moribund? • Probably never a large number of speakers to begin with (traditional hunter-gatherers, relatively scarce food resources) • Language suppression in primary education • many children sent to Lejac Residential School

  34. Fort Ware Lejac Residential School in operation 1922-1976 children punished for speaking languages other than English

  35. Speech community destruction: Fort Grahame Founded 1870, Hudson’s Bay Co. Finlay R. Peace R. Parsnip R. Map by A.G. Morice, ca. 1906

  36. W.A.C. Bennett dam • Construction on Peace R. finished 1968

  37. Williston Lake • Formed from Peace, Finlay, Parsnip rivers on completion of Bennett dam • Fort Grahame submerged

  38. Fate of Fort Grahame • Where did Fort Grahame people go? • Mackenzie and Prince George • Fort Ware • lower mainland of B.C. • many  Ingenika  Tsay Keh

  39. Responsibilities of linguists to endangered languages • Krauss, Ladefoged, Dorian: all agree that documentation is important • Difference of opinion concerns advocacy • Ladefoged: documentation only • Krauss, Dorian: speak up for them • Dorian: phonetics research (Ladefoged) requires relatively little fieldwork time commitment (compared to syntactic documentation, preparation of text collection, lexicography)

  40. Languages with small numbers of speakers • Special problems for documentation • availability of speakers • representativeness of remaining speakers • effect of linguistic isolation (bombardment by dominant language) • variation among remaining speakers • possibly dwindling competence

  41. Another issue: “community based research” • E.g. lending expertise to pedagogical projects • Ken Hale: “Instead of addressing our grammatical writings to a narrow audience of professional linguists, we might write them...to make them of maximum use to native speakers of the languages involved.” • Dan Everett: “When one makes a decision to do fieldwork...this decision entails a responsibility to aid the community in which the research is being conducted.”

  42. The opposing view • Paul Newman (W. Africanist) • Community-based language research as “linguistic social work”, “ethnic awareness/cultural heritage projects” • “language preservation projects drain resources from the important linguistic task of primary documentation, both in terms of personnel and in terms of funding”

  43. A middle ground • Accountability to the community may slow down research output, but helps ensure data accuracy • Community involvement can speed up certain projects • e.g. investing time in training native speakers in literacy

  44. Summary • Linguistics is an empirical discipline. Linguists work with data. • There are various sources of data in linguistics. • Many endangered languages are currently being documented via fieldwork.

  45. Next time • Language and the brain, implications for language universals

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